Group 2 - Day 3: Our First Day on the Job

We came to Guatemala expecting to learn a lot from this incredible culture-- lesson one: how to mix concrete by hand.

It involves a lot of heavy lifting and an incredible amount of patience to smooth it by hand. As Americans, our first inclination might be to ask where the mixing truck is, but there's something fascinating about accomplishing the task with nothing but honest labor and some piles of sand, rocks, concrete mix, and a hose.

Along the way we learned about more than concrete. If there's anything Guatemala has to teach us, it's to slow down and take a breath. Maybe it's okay to get one less square of concrete laid today and stop to spend time with the kids instead. We can barely talk to most of them, and yet they treat us like beloved family members.

   

The day began with a trip to see the broad range of programs Mission Guatemala runs to help the local community. We visited the clinic and got to meet the doctor in charge, see the dentist's office, and check out their impressive stock of medicine. The doctor even stopped to check on a few sick members of our group. We saw an example of the stoves that the Mission provides to families to replace the open fires many of them cook on, which are notoriously dangerous. The clinic also houses a preschool and we had a blast getting to be a part of the joyful chaos that is their classroom.

After seeing everything at the clinic, we drove up the hill to Nueva Esperanza. The village gave us an awesome welcome as all the kids and staff from the school gathered to welcome us and tell us about the history of their town. After that, we started laying concrete for the soccer field and got our education in construction. By lunch time we felt like we had thoroughly earned our food. School ended at lunch time so we had the kids around for moral support in the afternoon, which mostly consisted of them climbing on us and running around laughing. It's hard to be stressed out when they're around.

We timed the end of the work day perfectly as the rain started to fall. The rain shower made for a nice atmosphere as we sat under the umbrellas around the pool sipping coffee and recuperating from the day's work. We had dinner at the fire station and it was, as always, delicious. It's rude to not finish your meal here, but that's not too much of an issue with the motivation of getting to slide down the pole to the ground floor if you clean your plate-- it never gets old.

If we lose our passports and never come home, don't worry about us. We'll be happy here.

P.S. -Jacob's take on the day (not entirely factual)

We started the day with a rousing chorus of "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from the beloved Rogers and Hammerstein classic, 'Oklahoma!' Following this wonderful adventure down Broadway's memory lane, we all piled into a van. A small van. Okay, more like a clown car of guatemalans, Americans, and a donkey, two chickens, a goat, and a stray Cuban smoking, oddly enough, a Swiss cigar.

Después de nuestra trabajo al sitio, empezamos regresar al Hotel Cacique Inn. Nuestra hotel es muy grande y los cuartos tienen todo que necesitamos. También, Jacobo compraba mucho cosas diferentes porque él no puede decir "no" a una persona.